LAS VEGAS — Cal has never won the Pac-12 tournament, but freshman Jaylen Brown doesn”t believe doing so this week at the MGM Grand Garden Arena will require a substantial reboot of the Bears” approach.

“Every game is win or lose, live or die,” he said. “Same mindset as usual. No need to reinvent the wheel. It”s just basketball.”

If the third-seeded Bears (22-9, 12-6) continue to play the way they have the past five weeks, they have a chance. Cal is one of the hottest teams in the conference, having won eight of nine games. The outlier: a 64-61 loss last Thursday at Arizona when the Bears blew an eight-point lead in the final two minutes.

The Bears don”t play until Thursday night at 8:30, awaiting the winner of Wednesday”s game between sixth-seeded Oregon State and No. 11 Arizona State.

No. 9 Stanford (15-14, 8-10), hoping to shake off two double-digit defeats last weekend in Arizona, tips off the tournament at noon Wednesday against No. 8 Washington.

The rest of Wednesday”s schedule: Colorado vs. Washington State at 2:30 p.m., USC vs. UCLA at 6 p.m. and Oregon State vs. Arizona State at 8:30 p.m.

Here”s a look at each team”s prospects, ranked by seeding:

No. 1 Oregon: The Ducks (25-6, 14-4) have won five in a row, albeit against five second-division teams in the Pac-12 standings. A major obstacle looms in the Friday semifinals: Arizona will be eager to avenge an 83-75 loss to Oregon, its only home defeat all season.

No. 2 Utah: The Utes (24-7, 13-5) have won six in a row and look forward to playing one of the slumping L.A. schools on Thursday. The semifinals could pit Utah against Cal in a season rubber match after they each won at home.

No. 3 Cal: The Bears, who have only reached the conference tournament final twice in 18 previous tries, will have to be wary Thursday of a potential matchup against an Oregon State team that is desperate to reach the right side of the NCAA bubble.

No. 4 Arizona: The preseason favorite Wildcats (24-7, 13-5) have won eight of 10, but one of those defeats was a 75-72 loss at Colorado, which looms as Thursday”s likely quarterfinal foe.

No. 5 Colorado: The Buffaloes (21-10, 10-8) have won one conference game away from Boulder since Jan. 3. Maybe Vegas will feel like home to Colorado.

No. 6 Oregon State: The Beavers (18-11, 9-9) need a healthy Tres Tinkle if they want to make some noise in Vegas and impress the NCAA selection committee. The freshman forward missed Oregon State”s games last weekend in Los Angeles because of a foot injury.

No. 7 USC: The Trojans (20-11, 9-9), rated as a shaky No. 10 NCAA seed in Joe Lunardi”s latest NCAA bracket projection on ESPN, cannot afford a loss to crosstown rival UCLA. But USC has dropped four of five and hasn”t won a game outside L.A. since Jan. 1 against Washington State.

No. 8 Washington: The Huskies (17-13, 9-9) started the season strongly, but have dropped six of eight. One of the wins: A 64-53 verdict over Stanford, their opening-round foe here.

No. 9 Stanford: The Cardinal has started six different lineups the past nine games, with freshman forward Cameron Walker the latest player to take a stab at playing point guard.

No. 10 UCLA: The Pac-12”s biggest underachievers this season, the Bruins (15-16, 6-12) have lost four in a row and seven of nine. The absence of defense and depth have doomed UCLA.